A question I received: You spoke repeatedly about our tendency to run away from spirituality long before actually nearing it. In other words, our egoism pulls us away from the spiritual state by taking certain steps back. How can we avoid erring and go against the ego?

My Answer: You need to prepare yourself ahead of time. When it is already happening, nothing helps. The ego tricks and entices you anyway. You need to secure yourself beforehand, constantly. It is similar to a mountain climber that is tied onto one person and that person is linked to another person, and so on. This mutual interconnection is essential.

On our path, a person can lose his grip at any second. Without this link to the others, he falls into a chasm and then needs to climb back up. A whole life can be wasted on this. This is why one may fail to reach spirituality or advance through the spiritual 125 degrees within his lifetime.

Everything is arranged in a very precise, logical, and proper manner. It is nature’s law. There is no pampering from the Creator’s side, where He says "Oh, you are so small, I love you, I will do everything for you…" No, this doesn’t exist. The force of bestowal and the force of reception are in opposition to each other. One needs to find the right interconnection between them and act precisely. This is a law.

It is not like our world, where we adjust somehow and create unnatural conditions for ourselves. There is no mercifulness in nature according to our understanding of this term. Our understanding of mercifulness is receiving what we don’t deserve. However, this is inaccurate. Why should it be so? Is it because you’re so beautiful?

Therefore, if we understood nature’s essence and how we should behave with regard to it, we would truly succeed. We would justify the Creator’s actions instead of expecting mercy. We should study nature’s laws and carry them out precisely within ourselves. Then there will be no problems. We will see how perfect and eternal it is and that we will become like it.

Question (continued): So what is the solution? How can one prepare himself ahead of time?

My Answer: Only by being connected to others. This condition has been assigned to us. Only the state of a mutual guarantee can help. It is just like mountain climbers. Only you and I together can reach the goal. In other words, I need to think about you and myself equally. I need to worry about each of your actions just like I do about my own.

Question (continued): With mountain climbers, it is obvious: if someone falls, it’s possible to actually see it. But here, it is different. You return to the tastefulness of this world all the time, and it makes you happy.

My Answer: This also falls under the same program of a mutual guarantee, a mutual realization that we advance in this state and need to hold each other. We need to realize this.

A person should be concerned with what happens to others because otherwise he will not reach the goal. Then, under the influence of the Upper Light, you acquire such a sensation with regard to them that they become more important than you. Just like in our world, when you begin to care for someone else’s child, this child becomes important to you and you begin to love him. This is the influence of the Upper Light.

Try it, and you’ll see.

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What Is the Purpose of Creation?

…man is the center of Creation….
- Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar, Item 18

…the purpose of the creation of all the worlds was for man alone.
- Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar, Item 39

…the Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He had created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them….
- Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar, Item 39

…all the conducts of Creation, in its every corner, inlet, and outlet, are completely prearranged for the purpose of nurturing the human species from its midst, to improve its qualities until it can sense Godliness as one feels one’s friend.

These ascensions are like rungs of a ladder, arranged degree-by-degree until it is completed and achieves its purpose.
- Baal HaSulam, Article “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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We are still unable to appreciate what Rabash had done for us. He was the first Kabbalist in history to have described man’s spiritual work in a specific and structured way. As a guide to one’s inner work in attaining the Creator, the works of Rabash have no equal.

There are various books that speak about this at various lengths, but none of them describe the entire path of one’s inner transformation in a systematic way. Rabash, however, gives concise and comprehensible explanations with clear examples. He supplements the method of Baal HaSulam with all that is missing for the practical realization of correction so that all humanity could accomplish it. We take the works of Baal HaSulam and the articles of Rabash and adapt them to the modern man by stripping away all that could confuse him.

These great Kabbalists created the two parts of the method of correction. Everyone needs them today in order to reach the purpose of creation. Baal HaSulam connects us to the source of the Surrounding Light, and Rabash teaches us how to prepare ourselves to connect to this source. He explains how I should organize myself step by step, and how to focus my thoughts and intentions. When I am ready, I then open the books of Baal HaSulam.

Baal HaSulam is like the Light that comes to me from Above, and Rabash prepares me through the work below upward, toward the source. If I make use of both these forces, I am guaranteed success.

From the Talk on Working on Rabash’s Articles 6/15/10

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We need to work with Rabash’s articles, dividing them into sections and examining them. Every article is built according to a specific scenario, like a movie or a novel. It has a setting, a conflict (a problem), the development, the investigation of certain conflicts and discrepancies, and a resolution at the end. Along the way we usually encounter several difficulties, which help clarify the initial question and formulate conclusions. The entire course of the article corresponds to one’s inner (psychological and spiritual) structure so he could understand and internalize it.

You should read an article (or two short articles) a day, in the morning and in the evening. It does not matter if you become confused as long as you remain in this material all the time. The effort alone will attract the Light that Reforms. That same Light will clarify all the questions, including the proper order and system, as well as the stages that one needs to go through. All of this will become clear, and if it remains unclear, then you’ll understand why it is so. But it is the Light that illuminates everything we want to find out.

I do not conduct theoretical research; rather, I wait for the Light to illuminate for me the author’s mind in one thought. What does he want to say here, what is his plan? Just one single thought! What was Rabash thinking at that moment? The entire article is one single thought, and I want to understand it. This can only be done with the help from Above, once I am visited by a "muse." Kabbalists call her "Light."

From the Talk on Working on Rabash’s Articles 6/15/10

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During our entire spiritual journey, we must continually progress through applying faith above reason. We wish to attain spiritual perception, to enter the area of the Creator, and to draw His forces, which is precisely how we practice using faith above reason. This is when we are not walking blindfolded, but are guided by the force of bestowal.

It is not by using my own mind and perception, but rather, being guided by a higher spiritual step. I am walking along with it in a manner whereby I accept the mind and perception of the Upper One, exalting them above and despite my own. Thereby, I acquire new, more logical, and higher, qualities. But to me, they don’t necessarily seem logical.

This is what is happening with us right now. We constantly face the very same problem. I must treat my friends and the world according to the principle: “Love others as you love yourself.” I have to love and unite with them and do something with myself, don’t I? How can I accomplish that? I don’t like it, and I am incapable of it.

This is where I have to accept this condition, the law of “faith above reason,” and decide that I am going to do it. I have an opportunity to meet this condition through action, even if I resent it. It is written about this: “We shall do, and we shall hear!” This is why, according to the Torah, Moses’ staff bloomed. All this occurs through the blessing from Above when we accept the mind of the Upper One, which means to follow the Creator.

In fact, the Creator is a higher spiritual step and not something nebulous. A child learns from a grown-up in the same manner: He opens his mouth and literally catches every word, gesture, and behavior of the adult. No matter what an adult shows, he will copy everything. This is how he grows.

We have to do the same with the help of a tremendous force against our nature; we obligate ourselves to learn from the higher spiritual step. We call this faith above reason. That very force that I acquire from the Upper One gives me perceptions, mind, and a great deal of knowledge and information. Due to the fact that I have to go against my present state, it is called faith above reason. Yet it is clearly not so because at a higher spiritual level there is a greater desire to receive pleasure; hence, it is also greater in the intention to bestow. Obviously, the higher spiritual step is opposite to me and never looks logical.

The Upper One always seems strange, confusing, and incorrect to the lower because the Upper One is contrary and obscure to me; therefore, I am certain that the Upper One is wrong. And only from experience, can we see that the Upper One doesn’t err. Even if His behavior looks odd and illogical, you simply don’t understand His calculations. And yet, He never errs on the path.

From the Weekly Torah Portion 6/11/10

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Dear Friends, I will begin posting selected quotes of great Kabbalists on various subjects. Please ask questions about these passages. I promise to answer them.

The Creator Is the Absolute Good

And because we realize that the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.”
- Baal HaSulam, Article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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A brief summary of the weekly Torah portion of “Chukat,” Part 7: Then again, the nation starts to complain about being taken from Egypt. In return, the Creator sends snakes that kill many, and then the nation asks Moses to pray for the affliction to be removed. Moses prays for them and receives instructions on how to remedy the situation with the help from a “serpent of brass.”

Throughout the entire spiritual path, a person becomes confused with multiple questions and doesn’t know what to do. He bends under this load, eliciting the appearance of “poisonous snakes,” desires for pleasure instilled into the very foundation of creation. However, by seemingly creating a “serpent of brass” a person can help himself. He begins to understand and feel that everything he perceives is not really alive, but is in fact a “statue.”

If the snakes come from the outside, they appear to be a manifestation of the Upper Force. When a person tries to create them on his own, it becomes clear to him that they have nothing to do with the Upper Force, but rather they are a product of his own imagination, and that they come to him as a silly obstacle on this path. That is why as soon as Moses crafted a serpent of brass, the problem was resolved and the people of Israel no longer had this trouble.

This is one of the ways that the Torah uses to explain to us how to defend and correct ourselves. The “brass serpent” is an extremely interesting method for taking over our “evil desires” (our egoism). We build our own opposition to enable us to acknowledge that it is only an illusion. You can tell the difference since you are the one who builds the “idol.” Call it “occupational therapy” if you want. This is how a person rids himself of the problem by evoking a “serpent” from within. It goes without saying that all these actions are internal.

A comment I received: On the one hand, it says, “Don’t make an idol,” but in this situation, it is the Creator who orders Moses to make an idol.

My Answer: This is correct. Sometimes we need to behave like we do with our children. To stop their fears, we deliberately force them to do what they are afraid of: “Let’s get closer to this dog and you’ll see that it won’t hurt you.”

You look at images and think that they are sent to you by the Creator and that a “snake” is a manifestation of the Upper Force which controls you. But the Creator says: “No, do the same thing and you’ll see that it is you who imagines it; you draw the picture of this snake. In fact, there is nothing there; it only seems like there is to you.

If you make an “idol,” you will see that it is empty, that these "poisonous snakes" that come and frighten you contain nothing except for what you put into them yourself. You created them, not the Upper Force. Build them and you’ll see that it is true. A “serpent of brass” is a cure that allows us to treat our egoistic desires correctly.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/14/10

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A question I received: How do we recognize the "Moses" inside us?

My answer: The "Moses" inside a person is the closest point to the Creator or the point of contact with the Creator. If a person advances in a correct manner, he takes care of and protects this point as if it were his most precious jewel. After all, it connects him to the Creator.

"Moses" is the quality that is closest to the spiritual world. All the other points strive to the spiritual world only at some times, under certain conditions, on different levels of Aviut (thickness of desire), and due to various reasons, whereas the "Moses" in a person is truly devoted to the goal.

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A brief summary of the weekly Torah portion of “Chukat,” Part 1: The nation of Israel continues to wander around the desert and comes to Kadesh, which is situated in the desert of Tzin, where the nation begins to complain about the lack of water. Moses and Aaron turn to the Creator for advice and He tells them to ask the rock to give them water in front of the whole community. However, instead of asking the rock, they hit it. This angers the Creator, and He sentences them to die in the desert, and not to be among those who will bring the nation to the land of Israel.

A question I received: If the Creator gives us the point in the heart and takes us through all the states Himself, then why does He get angry?

My Answer: Obviously the Creator creates all the problems for us right from the start. He gives us obstacles every step of the way, no one else does. In the cruelest manner, He first performs evil, and then yells, punishes us, and later makes a suggestion: “OK, do it differently that will be better for you.” However, while we are in that “better” state, He once again makes it even worse for us and punishes us once again.

Why does He get angry? This wrath is correction. A person feels the Creator’s behavior inside himself; this is the way we are arranged. We cannot correlate this feeling to the Upper Force and to what happens inside It. After all, nothing happens in the Creator; He exists in absolute rest.

However, since we still don’t exist in a completely corrected state, our reality is separated into “me” and “outside of me,” “me” and “the world that surrounds me,” “me” and “the spiritual world,” and “me” and “the Creator.” However, everything that is seemingly external to me is in essence me; for the time being, it just seems to exist outside of me.

Therefore, the Creator’s behavior, which is presented to me in various forms, is really only the way I imagine Him through my own qualities. If I correct myself, I will see that love, nothing except love, comes from the Creator. But, while my external desires are not corrected, these desires bring me either a sensation of an evil world or a sensation of an evil Creator.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/14/10

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The Zohar, Chapter "VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out)," Item 60: … Indeed, so it is in the Merkava—Abraham and Isaac are right and left, and Jacob is in the middle. It is written, “The land,” Nukva, “On which you lie.” Thus, together, they are all one holy Merkava, the three lines with the Nukva. And here Jacob saw that he would be the senior among the patriarchs.

The Zohar tells us so much about the lines and especially about the ones that are opposite one another (about Abraham and Isaac) since we simply don’t sense yet how hard it is for a person to work with intention and action that are opposite one another. After all, in our world, everything works in one direction. If I give to someone with the intention to do something good for myself, it doesn’t mean that I give and that I work in two directions. It is work in a single direction which is for myself.

When we begin to work outside of the desire to receive pleasure, then every element includes two opposites which are in intention or in action. Hence, it’s not a coincidence that The Zohar always encounters such calculations. It seemingly says over and over where Abraham is, where Isaac is, and where Jacob is, or in other words, where the right line and the left line are.

This is because the work in three lines is very difficult on each level. It is the connection of the desire to receive pleasure that doesn’t have anything to do with spirituality, or with the intention to bestow so that this exact desire would become active, determining, building the foundation, and performing a spiritual act.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/14/10, The Zohar

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